


State of Mind

by brookebond



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Torture, but close enough that it needs to be tagged as one, not a full AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 05:59:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14206641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brookebond/pseuds/brookebond
Summary: You can think your way out of everything, even pain.





	State of Mind

**Author's Note:**

> Just a heads up, tags, warnings, and the rating on this will be updated as the need arises. I know there will be some mentions of torture (as the tags above indicate) but I'll add a note at the beginning of a chapter to look out for certain things.  
> It is still a work in progress so please don't hold that against me.  
> Looked at by coffeewithconsequences but not actually beta'd. If you do notice any errors or things that need to be changed, flick me a message over on tumblr. I have the same username everywhere!

No one spoke of Arthur without mentioning Eames.

No one spoke of Eames without mentioning Arthur.

They were a team, a packaged deal. They worked together exclusively. If someone hired Eames, they knew they were going to get Arthur as well.

They were the dream team.

They were the only people able to get results.

They were the best.

—

“You’ve seriously booked another job? We haven’t even started this one,” Arthur huffed, unspooling the PASIV wires.

“This won’t take long and you know you’re going to get restless. We had two months empty, darling,” Eames said, taking off his jacket and setting it over the back of a chair. “Are you honestly telling me you’d be alright if we spent the next two months on a beach somewhere?”

“I never said that,” Arthur countered.

They’d only arrived in Melbourne the day before and had spent the last fourteen hours setting up the warehouse until it was just right. Most of their work was done in dreams. There was so much that could be done in a dream. Eames was free to be so much more creative. Arthur was free to push people to their limits.

Pain was all in the mind.

“I could turn the job down. Tell them something else came up,” Eames offered.

Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can we possibly talk about this later or do I need to make a decision right now?”

“Later, darling.” Eames moved behind Arthur, fingers digging into his tight muscles. “You’d look lovely on a beach, though.”

Arthur closed his eyes, losing himself a little in the massage. Eames had magic fingers and he knew how to use them.

“You can’t seduce me into going,” Arthur said, reluctantly shrugging out of Eames’ grip.

“I could seduce you into anything,” Eames purred.

“Later,” Arthur chuckled. “We have work to do.”

Eames leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to Arthur’s lips before pottering off to make sure he was set up.

Ariadne and Yusuf were due any minute and—with Eames’ distraction—Arthur was behind schedule.

“If you’re boning, hoot twice like a barn owl. If it’s safe to enter, hoot once like a brown owl.”

“Honestly, Ari. If we were otherwise occupied, Arthur here wouldn’t be able to make any noises resembling an owl,” Eames joked, letting Ariadne and Yusuf in and helping them with the comatose mark.

“Do we have to talk about my sex life every time?” Arthur muttered as the other three hefted the mark onto the table.

Arthur moved around, strapping the mark down. Ties went around each limb, one went over the mark’s middle, and a strap held his head in place. It was a system they had perfected after a few misadventures where the mark died in the dream and had escaped. These days, they took all kinds of precautions to make sure that never happened, especially because Eames tended to get a little overzealous when it came to the creative part of their job.

“So, anything we need to know before we go in?” Arthur asked as he fastened the last strap. “Did anyone see you take him? Did you need to sedate him more than we anticipated?”

“Everything went smoothly,” Yusuf answered. He had moved off to set up his own instruments. He was finicky when it came to how things were set up so neither Arthur nor Eames were allowed to touch.

“This isn’t our first rodeo,” Ariadne snarked.

“For someone who lived in Paris, I seriously question what goes on inside your head,” Arthur said with a small shake of his head.

“We all can’t be paragons of intellect like you, darling,” Eames tutted.

“Yes, well, I can’t get my hopes up about you, but Ariadne’s still young enough to influence.”

“I’m standing right here. But if you two need the room to get whatever this is out, then please give me warning.”

Arthur whacked the back of her head and shot a look at Eames. “You get caught fucking on the job once and apparently that’s all people remember.”

“It was pretty memorable,” Ariadne teased.

“You just wait till Eames walks in on you and Yusuf. You’ll wish you didn’t bring this up so often,” Arthur said with a smirk, plotting how he could plan for Eames to catch them in the act. He was positive it wouldn’t be too difficult since their relationship was still new enough to be in the stage of not wanting to take their hands off each other.

“As fun as this is, should we get on with it before he wakes up?” Eames asked, the pragmatist for a change.

Arthur didn’t bother replying, he just swabbed the guy’s wrist and inserted the cannula. “Are you going to get ready or wait for me to do it?” he asked, eyeing the way Eames was standing around watching but not actually doing anything that was considered helpful by Arthur’s standards.

“Of course, darling,” he said with a quick peck to Arthur’s cheek and shuffled off, taking his jacket off and rolling his sleeves up. “So, standard plan then?”

Arthur nodded. They had their plans, ways of going about things that had worked for them incredibly well in that past. There wasn’t any reason to start changing things so close to the finish line.

“Up you get,” Ariadne chuckled, patting the seat Arthur had arranged for himself.

He sighed but complied, allowing Ariadne to insert his own cannula. It hadn’t really taken Arthur very long to begin trusting Ariadne with the job. She was more competent than most others he had had the unfortunate pleasure of working with—besides Yusuf and Eames—and that was why they all worked exclusively together. Well, whenever Ariadne was needing a few extra dollars in her accounts.

“Half an hour boys,” Yusuf announced jovially where he was dealing with Eames.

“Just be ready to go when we wake up,” Arthur warned, settling back into the seat so he was more comfortable. It wouldn’t do to wake up with a crick in his neck. Not with what he planned to do to Eames once the job was finished.

“Off you go boys,” Ariadne said with a smile and small wave as she pressed the button on the PASIV sending Arthur and Eames into the mark’s head.


End file.
